Chapter 460 The Sound Fox: Fan'r
The chimes went off, again. Lily spun around.
"You don\'t hear that?!?" Lily asked, louder. Her eyes scanned the area.
"No, dear. What are you hearing?" Mother Wang asked, confused.
"Chimes. I hear chimes! Is that Dad\'s signal?"
"No, it comes from the glow stones." Mother Wang shook her head. Lily spun around and looked at her Mom.
"I swear on the gods, Mom! I heard chimes!"
Twing!
"There! It did it again. What does that mean?" Lily asked. Mom stood up and slowly started at her daughter. "I-I\'m not crazy, Mom! I heard it!"
"I didn\'t say you were, hun. How many times have you heard it?" Mother Wang asked.
"Three times! That has to mean something, right?" The ground around them began to shake, catching both of their attentions. "What\'s that?" The two turned and looked at the ladder. It began to shake as the two watched. The rumbling grew louder and louder as Mother Wang grabbed her daughter.
"An earthquake?!?" Mother Wang spoke with concern. She let out a heavy breath as she held her daughter in her arms. Things began to spill all around them. Preserved foods, books, and unlit glow stones. The glow stones bounced as shelves began to sway back and forth.
"Mom, stay close!" Lily shouted. Lily nervously hummed as pink energy wrapped around her and her mother. Dirt and small rocks began to fall all around them as the rumbling grew louder. "Sostenuto (Sustained) Protection!" The pink energy grew bright and sturdy as rocks bounced off the protective shield.
\'What\'s happening?!? Did something bad happen?\' Lily questioned.
"Hold on tight, dear." Mother Wang nervously shouted. Lily squeezed her Mom tight.
\'Mom and my safety comes first.\' Lily thought to herself. Her eyes looked upwards towards top. She could barely see anything above. \'I hope everything\'s alright.\'
Bright flew backwards, tumbling as he tried to get a grip on himself. Fan\'r had taken all of the hits for him and now he was drawing all of the Cursed energy to him.
"Dad!" Jacob and Winn shouted.
"Ah, this isn\'t good!" Chima shouted. The three pushed to get to Bright. Wind whipped around as Cursed energy compressed itself into Fan\'r\'s body. "You three need to stay safe now! Go!"
"We can\'t leave you to—" Jacob began to protest when a slender hand touched him. Jacob turned to see the Priestess standing next to him.
"All of you will retreat." The Priestess spoke softly. Her unamused blue eyes stared at the sight of Fan\'r. Her arms were covered white sleeves that attached to her upper body, while the rest of her dress was green. Her hair whipped in the air as the emerald ring started to glow. "Chima and I will handle this. Our friends should be here any minute. I feel it."
"Our friends?" Bright looked at the Priestess. "Keng is coming?" The Priestess shrugged.
"I\'m not sure. My Sight doesn\'t work that way, Bright. You know this." The Priestess watched as a wave of purple energy whipped straight at them. Priestess lifted her emerald ring hand and waved at the purple energy. The energy dissipated, blasting away like wind as the Priestess\'s form shimmered. "Go, boys. That\'s an order."
"You won\'t be able to do anything against your Father in that form." Chima told them. "You haven\'t fought against him like we have. We know his weaknesses."
"So we will do what we can to hold him down. Until our friends come." The Priestess nodded. "Go." Winn grabbed Bright and lifted him up. He patted Jacob\'s shoulder and motioned to move.
"Fine." Jacob bit his lip. "Please keep him alive if you can." The Priestess and Chima nodded at him before watching him and his brothers sprint off behind them.
"Priestess Ro\'sa, I fear we can\'t hold back." Chima casually spoke as his form shimmered. Halos appeared around his wrists, ankles, and neck. White energy draped off of him like a Greek outfit. Priestess Ro\'sa\'s form stayed the same, for the most part. Nature grew off of her energy.
"Hold him down together?" Priestess Ro\'sa asked.
"Correct." Chima nodded. Chima lifted his hands, index and middle finger pointed up as he weaved both of of his hands together.
"Nature Bind Combo: Angelic Bind!" Priestess Ro\'sa and Chima shouted in unison. Large halos wrapped around the Cursed Fan\'r, quickly decreasing in size as vines erupted from the ground. The halos wrapped around the Cursed Fan\'r as the vines pulled him down into the ground.
"Goddess of Nature, give us strength… Show the Cursed your wrath and protect our brethren from its corruption." Priestess Ro\'sa whispered. The Priestess began to move her arms in the air, pressing the energy downwards. Bright green energy rippled out of the halos and vines, sapping the energy as the Cursed Fan\'r shouted in pain.
Winds whipped all around as Cursed energy slammed into the houses. Chima lifted his hand, creating a halo shield in front of him and Ro\'sa. Fan\'r\'s scream grew to an all time loud.
\'It isn\'t working.\' Ro\'sa telepathically told Chima.
\'What do we do now?\' Chima replied.
\'Drag him away from the Village. He\'s going to destroy it at this rate. He did pull off the bind he put on himself.\'
"ARRRGH!" Fan\'r shouted, dashing straight for Priestess Ro\'sa and Chima. Fan\'r flickered into existence, swinging straight for Ro\'sa as Chima\'s shield deflected the hit. Ro\'sa wasted no time, blinking away as Chima followed suit. Fan\'r threw punches and hits at the two, Cursed and Sound energy rippling everywhere.
Chima and Priestess Ro\'sa flew out of the Village, watching Fan\'r disappear from their sight.
\'Behind us!\' Chima shouted.
"Argh!" Chima crashed straight into the wall, shattering it as Priestess Ro\'sa summoned her Emerald staff and swung it at Fan\'r. Fan\'r dodged, shrieking as the sound waves amplified, shooting her backwards into the ground.
"Halo Magic: Gift of the Angels." Chima appeared next to Ro\'sa, instantly healing her and binding her with a halo on top of her head. "We won\'t do well in a fight with him like that. We need to pull him away as far as possible." Chima pulled Ro\'sa up, watching Fan\'r as the Cursed energy began to bind itself around his entire body.
\'We\'ll go with our usual tactics.\' Chima telepathically spoke to Ro\'sa. \'I\'ll give you enough time to chant the spell. In that time, I\'ll distract him long enough for you to finish it.\'
\'You\'ll get hurt doing that.\' Ro\'sa replied. \'It\'s too risky.\'
\'It\'s better odds than fighting him straight on. The Village\'s protection comes first. We still have a high chance of healing him from the Curse. Savior Keng shall come with Sir Gorrum and Elder Jyu\'so. Sir Gorrum could probably keep up with Fan\'r if we damage him enough. The Elder specializes in attacks that mess with his opponent. The young one, Keng, will have enough time to get rid of the Curse since Fan\'r pulled all of it to him.\'
\'You noticed it too?\' Ro\'sa looked at him. Chima nodded.
\'When Bright was going to get hit by the Cursed energy, he distorted the sound waves and pulled some of them towards him as he jumped.\' Chima confirmed.
\'Then when he binded with the initial Cursed energy…\' Ro\'sa\'s eyes went for the Cursed Fan\'r. He was standing there like he wanted his opponents to put up more effort.
\'Correct.\' Chima nodded, standing. \'He knew we would try to pull him away and bind him. If we hit him with your spell and do a bind, we\'ll trap him for sure.\' Ro\'sa sighed. Fan\'r seemed to be looking at them. A part of him was still there. \'He\'s still there… Barely.\'
"I\'ll do it." Ro\'sa told Chima. She lifted her staff into the air and began to chant in God tongue. "The Earth molded and created by the goddess of Nature, I call upon you in our time of need. Weed out the corruption and destroy my foes…"
Fan\'r shot forward, a screeching noise erupting from his punches as Chima barely kept up with him. Halo barriers flew up as Chima redirected the attacks away from Ro\'sa. Chima swung at Fan\'r, halos wrapped around his arms as he missed. Fan\'r wasted no time in retaliating with another shrieking strike across Chima\'s chest.
"…Build yourself upon the corrupted and turn them anew… Yggdrasil!" Ro\'sa\'s staff lit up in bright green light as Chima bounced onto the ground. The Cursed Fan\'r turned, dashing straight for her as Ro\'sa slammed the staff into the ground. Large roots shot out of the ground, wrapping around Fan\'r as sound and Cursed energy tore threw them. Ro\'sa kept a composed and serious face as she watched Fan\'r come closer to her. The roots continued to wrap around Fan\'r, exploding on impact.
"Ro\'sa!" Chima shouted. Ro\'sa smiled as she flicked the emerald staff forward.
"You fall for it every time." Ro\'sa chuckled. Roots poured out of the staff, pushing Fan\'r backwards into the ground. The roots began to grow upwards, into a large tree.
"Halo Magic: Energy Bind!" Chima quickly circled his fingers together and watched as a large halo appeared at the base of the Yggdrasil tree. "Bind the corruption to the tree!"